My Best Upgrades

Mervyn Butler’s last Cortina MkIII ended up as a kit car 40 years ago, but he always missed it

Ford Cortina MkIII

1974 FORD CORTINA MkIII, ESSEX V6 CONVERSION THE STORY SO FAR Total mileage 211 since built Why is it special? Fitting an Essex V6 is the upgrade that Ford UK should have built. Most parts are Ford, so it’s almost crazy not to! ‘The car was a standard two-door automatic with a 1600 Pinto when I bought it in 2002, and I used it as a daily until 2006 when rust started appearing through the blow-over paint job the last owner gave it. It didn’t see the road for another 13 years!

‘I fitted a V6 to my old Cortina in the late 1970s and that transformed it. This time it was easier because I was able to use standard South African engine mounts; Ford sold it as a V6 both there and in Australia. I bought a scrap V6 Capri and used the four-speed manual gearbox – the same one they put in the Granada – and took the differential internals and fitted them into an Atlas axle.

‘Obviously the brakes needed upgrading. It has Sierra front discs and rear calipers on the back and Capri 2.8 vented discs on the front with Austin Princess four-pot calipers – that’s the best thing about a Princess! It’s lowered by about an inch all round and polybushed, so the handling is nice and tight now.

‘There was a lot of rust, but fortunately I’m a welder/fabricator by trade. The roof didn’t look too bad but was hiding a horror; it would have been better to put a new panel in! I did the inner and outer sills, rear arches, boot lid around the lock and passenger doors, and replaced the wings with glassfibre items and the bonnet with a Kevlar copy of an Australian version. It was finally done and taxed in January this year.’

BODYWORK £0 (SHOULD HAVE COST LOADS!)

The body shell needed hours of welding, but Mervyn did this himself, saving thousands. The sills, floor, rear arches, boot lid, roof and doors all needed work. The glassfibre wings and Kevlar bonnet won’t rust.

AXLE (USED) £600

The Capri differential internals were used inside a Ford Atlas axle, found for £50. Shelley Transmissions replaced the bearings and set up the backlash and propshaft, shortened 38mm by Dave Mac Propshafts.

GEARBOX £500

The ‘box is a Type 5 heavy-duty Ford four-speed manual, as used in Capris and Granadas. Mervyn bought a rotten Capri for £800, took what he needed and sold the shell to a restorer. The item bolted straight on. INTERIOR £500 The rear seat uses a twodoor humped bench and is all trimmed to match the leather Hyundai seats fitted at the front. Its door cards are modified to look like an early base model, and a MkV centre console is fitted.

BRAKES £600

Rear brakes are a combination of Sierra discs and calipers at the rear and Capri 2.8 vented discs with Austin Princess fourpot calipers at the front. It also has a Granada MkI servo and Land Rover master cylinder. ENGINE £4100 JW Developments rebuilt the Essex V6. It has a polished crank, honed cylinders, a hot camshaft and unleaded cylinder heads. It dropped in with no cutting and sits on South African mounts that I acquired from a club member.

SUSPENSION £1000

Using new springs and dampers from Burton, the car is an inch lower all round, and uprated at the front to take the extra weight of the V6. It also has a 20mm anti-roll bar. All joints are polybushed.